Hell Sucks
by Sweet A.K
Summary: What the freak are these people up to here! What chromosomes were they mutating? Why is the room spinning worse than I cheap carnival ride? Movie Based. Slight ROC.
1. Why the author screwed up

Since we can't have an author's note as a chapter anymore, I will post this as a story…

Amanda walked into the RRTS barracks and stood at the bottom step. The men, Sarge and Aidan all looked at her, their packs ready and loaded for combat.

"Listen up, men!" Amanda called to them. "Story's been canceled!"

There was a general out cry from the men.

"I don't believe this shit, why?" Sarge asked.

"Because, I just bought the Doom book, and it turns out I have you guys all wrong!" She cried in desperation at her own stupidity. "I want to make this the best story there is, and now I feel I have done you all a great injustice." Amanda said as she hung her head in shame.

"That's alright, baby." Duke said as he unpacked his bag,

"Yeah, now we get to take that R&R we never got." Mac copied Duke and unpacked his bag, and the rest followed suit.

"You're not going to make Goat too much like the one in the book though, right?" Aidan said as the thought of human scalps rotting away in his footlocker made her shudder. Goat nodded in agreement.

"No, I'm going to mix everyone's book character with their movie character… and I might mix more of one then the other."

"So it is coming back then?" Destroyer asked.

"Yeah, it'll come back bigger and better than ever!"

"You won't change the plot too much?" Reaper questioned as he and Aidan looked at each other.

"No, I'll keep the basic premise I've already set up, but I'll be changing the story around… Ooohraah?"

"Ooohraah!" They replied in affirmative.

"Alright men… readers, expect the new revamped story this summer… Dismissed!"


	2. In the Begining God created Woman

I do not own the Doom franchise. Universal, Id, and Activision do, so don't sue. Also, I do not own. I do own any OCs and the original part of the plot… and all original cuss words. ;)

I'm back! And, as promised, I have my reworked Doom story. Being stuck in my brother's house, in a cold, damp basement for a week without internet really helped me out with finishing this. I hope you all enjoy.

This story is finished… I promise!

This has only slight OC/character romance in it, but it is as an undertone. The reason for writing this is because I thought the movie needed a little more estrogen in it to level out all that testosterone (laughs). I hope you all enjoy!

This takes place during and slightly before the movie with a little extra character added. Hopefully it won't be like all the others that are out there… which I love by the way!

Rated for violence and **_lots_** of naughty language.

Forgive the breaks, doesn't all lines anymore… which is moronic.

**DOOMDOOMDOOMDOOMDOOMDOOMDOOM**

Pain… intense, blinding, white, pain. It flowed from my abdomen like a river of fire.

Then calm… nothingness.

You see that woman lying on that cold gurney, wires coming out of her body, the steady beeping of the heart monitor mixing with the dripping of the IV fluids filling her ears… that woman is me.

So, you want to know how I got here, who I am?

Well, I've nothing better to do at the moment. So sit back and I'll start from the beginning.

**DOOMDOOMDOOMDOOMDOOM**

I was a young, smart, nineteen-year-old college student who had a very promising future as I was told by many people. Everyone would tell me, "Oh, you're so nice… so funny… so sweet… so smart… so young!"

Yeah, well, they didn't know what I really was… I was _so_ fucking bored.

Bored with life, bored with love, bored with college, bored with all the morons, and bored with people telling _me _what _I _was and what _I_ should be. No one asked me what I wanted… no one cared. I was going to be the first person in my family to get a PhD… in what? It didn't really matter, as long as I got one.

So I chose Psychology.

It was cool for a while, but then I got bored… I switched majors five times, each one more tedious then the rest.

It wasn't that I was dumb, or that the classes were boring, or that the professors sucked… they were all really cool actually… but it was just _so fucking easy! _

I had dropped out of school when I was sixteen, got my GED and walked down that shity-assed graduation ceremony they had for it (the one my family insisted I go to so they could take pictures of me in that dumbass cap and gown) as the top graduate in the county (big fucking whoop! I live in a place full of moronic people who can't seem to pull their heads out of their asses) and in the top 10 percent of high school graduates in the country (again, big fucking whoop-de-do!) all because I got bored with school. My school never had placement testing. If your fifth birthday was sometime before school started, then con-fucking-gradulations you're in Kindergarten! I was so ahead of those kids (already knew how to read, write, and do math) that it was fucking embarrassing… for them, not me. I should have realized then, when the teacher had us coloring in those fucking letters that were shaped as fucked up creatures, that I would be ahead of the rest for my entire academic career. So it was no surprise when I beat out a shit load of people for a scholarship to the community college… the place that was _BEST ON STUDENT SUCCESS! _

Can you feel the sarcasm?

I suppose it was pretty cool at the time… but now, I couldn't give a fucking flying fart in Finland… try saying that ten time fast.

I never paid attention to the instructor, and I think my counselor finally realized why. He asked me why I was in college. I told him the truth…

My family was in control of my life. They wanted to turn me into my brother… the lone success of the family. He went to West Point where the future Army officers of American went to get their ass kicked and so much pressure put on them that a few contemplated committed suicide… but not my brother… not the Golden Boy! Never! He passed top of his class with a Bachelor's degree in Combat Engineering. He gets to go off and play soldier while I'm stuck here in this dead-end shit hole.

"Have you ever thought of a career in the Military?" he asked.

Have I? Fuck yeah I have! I wanted to be in the military long before my brother had even heard of West Point. Even as a four-year-old, I dreamed of going into armed conflict and kicking ass, flying over some battle in a helicopter and sliding down on a rope, guns blazing and shells going off left and right. I watched one too many episodes of G.I. Joe I guess. But I wanted it so bad I could taste it! When I got older and discovered the wonders of paintball, I used to stake out a spot in the dirt and dig myself down until I was out of sight. Then I would pelt anyone who came into sight… my first experience as a sniper, if you will. Oh, how I wanted to be a sniper… stuck out in a place all alone for days, waiting for intel I could report back to my commanders… or a good shot I could pop off in some fuckwits head, that would be ideal. Yeah, I'm bit fucked up, what can say?

So my counselor, one of the coolest people in the world, slid a pamphlet over the smooth, polished, clutter desk in his office to me where I was lounging in his office chair.

"The Few, The Proud, The Marines." I read, then lifted my eyes back to him. He grinned… I grinned… "Well Ooohraah."

**DOOMDOOMDOOMDOOMDOOM**

I dropped out of college, effectively making the choice to the threat my dad had sent my way… stay in school, or you _will_ be disowned.

That was not a hollow threat… two days later found my ass on a Greyhound bus with a one way ticket to San Diego where, after a three week wait, I would spend the next 12 plus weeks in boot camp.

The food sucked…

I used a shitload ketchup…

God, I fucking hate ketchup!

I was under weight… what the fuck to they expect when I hadn't had a decent meal in the three weeks prior to boot camp… so they put me on double rations…

Did I mention how much I fucking hate ketchup?

Luckily, in the three weeks prior to camp, I had been studying up on what was expected of me… I could kiss my counselor for the "Surviving Marine Corps Basic Training" book he gave me.

**DOOMDOOMDOOMDOOMDOOM**

Long story short, I survived boot camp… or hell. Take your pick.

I spent a year and a half in the suck (1) before I was given the opportunity to join the privateers… the best of the best… the badasses of the Marine Corps.

I was approached by a sergeant one day. To say this guy was muscled would be a fucking injustice… he had muscles on his muscles… on his muscles. He was fucking huge… and he wanted me.

Not like that fuckwit.

He was looking for someone to join his RRTS, a Rapid Response Tactical Squad, and he wanted me on the team.

If you don't know what my answer was then you haven't been paying attention to the fucking story, now have you?

"When the fuck do we leave?"

**DOOMDOOMDOOMDOOMDOOM**

I was introduced to the rest of the team… they had been together for longer than I had been in the service.

There was the big guy who came to me, Sarge was what he was called… shit; I'd call him princess if he wanted me too, just so long as I didn't piss the fucking yeti off.

Duke and Destroyer, they were like brothers… eventually they became brothers to me too… but I'm getting ahead of myself. They grew up in the same neighborhood, and were friends before they signed up. Duke looked up to destroyer, and after Destroyer was given the choice of either jail or service and choose the former, Duke eventually followed.

Mac was next. They called him Mac because no one knew how to pronounce his fucking name… so Mac it was.

Then there was Goat. I'll tell you about him later.

Gunner… he was the kind of the kid to the group even though he was older than I was. He and Reaper were the best of friends. Had even made it through basic together… It's in the service where you find you true friends.

And finally Reaper… John Grimm "Reaper". What can I say about him? He was bad news, but so was I, some with argue. But he was, and still is… untouchable. He was cleaning his gun and chewing on a piece of Extra Chewing Gum… he was a God… and I was head over heels for him.

But I was a Marine… a woman in a male dominated profession… I couldn't, and wouldn't, let on that I felt that way for him.

**DOOMDOOMDOOMDOOMDOOM**

I stayed in the same room with the guys; a lot of things have changed since the twentieth century. For one thing, women and men shared the same barracks, which happened in the twenty-first century, but women still weren't allowed in a combat situation. Now, with the world going to shit and UAC running everything, women were being sent into more and more dangerous situations, and were seen as more of an equal to men then they have been since the stone age.

So, there's your little history lesson for the day… now back to the real story.

My cot was next to Goat. He was always reading from his bible or saying prayers and penances. Other than that, I had never heard him speak.

He saw the tattoo on my inner forearm of a cross I got when I turned eighteen… when I still had faith in things.

"Do you believe in God?" He asked. To say I was startled would be an under sight. I looked around to see who he was talking to, but everyone was staring at me. Reaps had even stopped his meticulous cleaning of his gun. I turned back to Goat, he was looking at me.

"I've been living too long in hell." I told him after only a moment's hesitation. He nodded… everyone nodded and went back to what ever the fuck they were doing prior.

"I was like you, once." He told me. I was shocked. It was the most I had heard him speak since I had arrived.

"Yeah? So what changed?"

"I spent some time in hospital after a mission gone a rye. I guess you could say I found myself… and God there, lying there and reliving everything bad thing I ever did, not sure whether I'd live or die." He didn't go into anymore details… I didn't ask. There are times when you press on for more information and time when you learn to just fuck off. I learned that the hard way… I still have the scar.

"Maybe I should get my ass shot…" I laughed bitterly. "Not that anyone would care." I mumbled under my breath. Goat heard.

Know how I know?

Because people always pause in what they're doing when the hear something they know they weren't meant to.

"Why's that?" He asked me, turning to a page in the small black book.

"My dad told me I either stay in college, or he'll disown me." He looked at me, an unreadable expression in his eyes.

"Since you're here, I guess you no longer have a family." Ding-ding-ding, we have a winner!

"Yeah." He brought back memories I thought I had locked up and forgotten about. "I'm getting some air." I picked my ass up and walked out.

It was fucking cold outside… freezing balls as my brother would say… I missed him.

Life's a bitch.

I thought about all the things I had given up just so I could join the Marines…

I wanted to cry…

But I didn't…

Because I'm a fucking Marine.

**DOOMDOOMDOOMDOOMDOOM**

I woke slightly, Sarge was yelling at John's sister… I couldn't concentrate on what it was all about. I heard him say something about Pinky…

Fuck, my stomach hurt like a bitch.

I tried saying something, but it came out as a fucking moan. I sounded like a fucking crack whore begging for a hit.

Sam came over and injected something into my IV. I looked and saw the worried looks of Duke, Destroyer, The Kid, and finally Reaper. I didn't need their fucking pity.

I was consumed by the darkness of unconsciousness one again.

**DOOMDOOMDOOMDOOMDOOMDOOMDOOM**

That's the first chapter. Hope you like. R&R!

Amanda

1 The Suck is a label used by the Marines to describe the Corps.


	3. This is a Story, of a Screwed up Family!

They say that before you die your life flashes before your eyes…

But what if your death is long and drawn out?

Do you get to see more of your life… is it more detailed?

The answer is yes.

But it's never been proven…

Because no one's ever survived death.

**DOOMDOOMDOOMDOOMDOOM**

I watched as Duke and the blonde chick… Samantha, flirted over the corpse like fucking middle-schoolers…

It was sickening.

I'm glad I lost consciousness when I did.

**DOOMDOOMDOOMDOOMDOOM**

I was sitting in the barracks alone when Goat came in. I went back to cleaning my gun, figuring he would go and read his bible, like normal…

But he didn't.

He sat down at the end of my bed. I looked up from my book with one eyebrow raise.

"I didn't think I was your type." I joked… Goat wasn't like that. He was the kind of guy who was quiet, but if he saw a woman being harassed by some fucknut he would be the first to beat the shit out of the guy… as by evidence of what he did to some shithole named Portman last week when the dickfuck went into detail of what his horny needle prick wanted to do to me. Not that I couldn't defend myself or anything…

It was just funnier watching Goat kick his ass.

Portman, reportedly, couldn't hit a target straight for a week.

"Why are you in hell?" He asked, staring intently at me. I didn't need to ask what he meant… I knew. The question was… do I tell him.

Fuck it all, I couldn't lie to him, he could see right through the lies to the truth that was hiding underneath… pretty fucking poetic for a Marine, huh?

So I sat my gun down, crossed my legs, and stared him directly in the eyes.

I told him about my family. How my bastard of my father left when I was barely a month old, then came crawling back into my life as a rich man who just needed me for his presidency campaign. How my mom had remarried an old drunk who would knock me around ever now and then. How much I idolized my brother, but hated him all the same. I hated him because my mother expected me to be just as much the Golden Child as he was. How, after my grandma died when I was ten, the only true mother I ever had died along with her. How my so called mom could care less that I was in a destructive relationship at eighteen. How the mother fucking bastard assaulted me and all she said was that I shouldn't have pissed him off… and that I sure as hell shouldn't have kicked him in the balls. About how the fuckshit tried to rape me, but I kicked his ass so hard that he ran off with his tail between his legs. I told him how much my mom cried when I told her he and I broke up, and how much she tried to get us back together even though I told her what he tried to do. I told him the only person in the world who ever cared about me was the one who I was competing with all my life… my brother.

I felt the tears well up in my eyes as I said this… relived the worst parts of my life… I was a Marine… but I couldn't keep the tears at bay any longer. No matter how hard I tried, those fucking crocodile tears started to fall… fucking human emotions… all Marines would be better off without them.

But he didn't care. In fact, he put an arm around me and rubbed my back until the tears turned into those fucking hiccupping things that hurt your chest. He looked at me then read to me from his bible.

I told Goat that if there was a God, he had abandoned me a long time ago.

He pulled out a yellowed card that looked like it had seen better days. It was torn, and very well loved, some would say.

It had a simple verse on it, one that had gotten him through the worst of times, and now he hoped it would guide me through the struggles I had ahead.

I stared at the card for a long time; I didn't know what to make of it. Since my life as a Marine had started, I had left all those thoughts and emotions back with my old shity fucking life… but now they all seemed to be coming back, no matter how hard I tried to fight them off.

Goat saw this… Goat knew this.

He rubbed my shoulder…

"Keep it." He said.

**DOOMDOOMDOOMDOOMDOOM**

After that, Goat and I became closer. He became the father I never had, and I became the daughter he never would have. Duke and Destroyer became my brothers, Mac became my friend, and as for John… well, John was just John. Sarge was always a kind of mystery to me. One minute he was just one of the guys, the next he was a dick.

But you don't tell him that to his face…

Unless you want your gun shoved so far up you ass you'll be spitting bullets…

I'm not sure that was physically possible, but I wasn't about to find out.

**DOOMDOOMDOOMDOOMDOOM**

Gunshots, Sam screaming, Duke's yelling, an unearthly growl.

My eyes shot open like fucking cannons.

"Getting a little cozy down there, huh?" I rasped a tease at Sam and Duke as they lay tangled on the floor.

"Baby girl?" Duke helped Sam up and then walked over to me. "How you doing, Cowboy?" Cowboy is my call sign in case you couldn't figure that out. I coughed.

"Fan-fucking-tastic… could be better though." I said… it was getting harder to breath.

"You just take it easy, baby girl." He said as he grabbed my hand. "Anything ya' need?"

"Water." I rasped out. Sam came over with a cup and Duke helped me sit up to take a drink. Fuck, I was like a fucking quadriplegic. I felt my throat trying to close as I drank… fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck.

Duke laid me back down… I started to shiver.

"Here." Sam covered me up with a blanket. She reminded me of John a lot. He was just like her, but he hid it behind his tough Marine attitude. Sam, on the other hand, wore her heart on her sleeve.

I used to be like that, but it got me fucking nowhere.

I closed my eyes and drifted back into the past.

**DOOMDOOMDOOMDOOMDOOM**

I had been with the guys for eight months. They had given me the nickname of Cowboy. Why? Because one night, we were out at the bar and this ancient jukebox, which still ran on CDs, was playing an ancient Garth Brooks song, "That girl is a Cowboy." … yeah, like Reaper says, "They're Marines, not poets."

On my twenty-first birthday, the guys took me out for my first _legal _drink. I was so shit faced I don't remember most of the night… or the morning after. I do remember someone carrying me to my room… I don't remember who, but I know it wasn't Goat… he wasn't wearing the right cologne.

God, I wanted to fucking die the next day.

I swore I would never drink like that again, and I didn't…

Until that one leave we had during the fourth of July… that was fun… what I remember about it at least. But apparently liquor and fireworks don't go too well together… and apparently it's a federal offence to set a forest on fire...

Who knew?

Then there was that time after the WWE event that the franchise had given us free tickets to us, just because we were in the military… and the guys didn't think I knew anything about wrestling.

Fucknuts.

Shows what they know. They didn't even know what a full nelson or a half Boston crab was… amateurs. We had a great time afterwards… like a family should.

I still remember the night when this ragtag bunch of fuck-ups became my family…

**DOOMDOOMDOOMDOOMDOOM**

"Cowboy!" Duke yelled. I didn't answer; I had my headphones in my ears. It wasn't that I didn't hear him.

I heard him loud and clear…

I was just fucking ignoring him.

The rest of the guys knew this and were amused…

You know what they say, "simple mind, simple pleasure." Whoever wrote that must have been a chick… watching a bunch of guys.

But then again we had just got back from a tough fucking mission; we were all battered and bruised, so anything would be amusing to us anyway.

"Cowboy!" He chucked a book at me.

"What!" I yelled back at him, rubbing the newly acquired sore spot on my head.

Asshole.

"Your husband's here looking for you!" he smirked at me. The guys all stopped what they were doing and looked up at me. The tiny little world that existed around our little platoon seemed to freeze in mid second. Eyes bored into me, their gaze heavy with questions, like the warm, wet, Kansas summer air.

"Fuck you! You have to be fucking married before you have a husband!" I chucked the book back at him when he turned his back…

"Ow! _Son of a bitch!"_

I'm a sniper… I always hit my mark.

My answer seemed to be good enough; everyone went back to their business. But still Duke's word reverberated in an echo through my mind. 'Your husband.' I wasn't married… I almost was, but then I got the fuck outta Dodge as soon as my brain kicked my ass into gear.

"Well there's a guy out there looking for an Aidan Killian, says she's his wife." Yeah, that's my real name. My grandpa was Irish; my mom thought I was a boy. I guess she was just too fucking lazy to pick out a girl's name.

But it fits. Killian means something along the lines of warlike one. Call it fucking destiny if you want.

"There's probably lots of Aidan Killians in the world, he just got the wrong one." I got up and stole the basketball from him. He made a grab for it, I shot it. SCORE!

"Yeah, well you go tell him that." Duke was always a sore loser. I grinned at him and climbed the stairs.

The wind hit my face like a meat hammer left in a butcher's freezer. Shit, I thought California's Death Valley was supposed to be warm.

But then again it was night, and anyone who has lived in a desert knows that it can be ball sweating hot in the day, and freeze at night, with no humidity to keep the warmth in and all.

I saw a guy waiting with his back turned to me…

He was fucking muscled.

Not as much as Sarge, but almost.

"Look, I'm Aidan." I shouted at his back. He stiffened slightly but didn't turn. "I think you got the wrong one though, I'm not married."

He turned…

My jaw dropped.

It was him.

The fuck that assaulted me when I was a kid, the bastard who tried to rape me.

Fucker must have been on steroids.

"But we almost were, don't you remember?" He said in a fucking sickly sweet voice.

We were engaged, but only because my mom said yes for me. I vaguely wondered why I stayed with her as long as I had, but the thought didn't last. I was on full heightened awareness, my survival training kicking in. I sized him up, try to gauge which survival technique to use, fight or flight. I chose fight.

"You know, it's been proven steroids shrink you dick." I was baiting him. "Yours must be gone by now, it was microscopic to begin with."

He was pissed.

I was happy he was pissed.

He shot over and grabbed me by the arms. I tried to knee him in the balls, but he closed his legs… fuckturd.

"Don't look like you stand a chance this time, bitch." He growled into my ear. He reeked. Like he'd been smoking cat shit.

But he was right… he had me against the wall, my hands were pinned down to my sides, my shoulder and ankle were fucked up from our last mission, and he was stronger than me now… maybe I should have picked flight… oh well, it was too late to change my mind now.

But fuck him if he thought I was going down without a fight.

I did the only thing I could do… I head butted him…

Hard.

A thunderous crack filled the air and blood gushed down my face. I wasn't sure if it was from my head, or his nose. I didn't really care, all I knew was I needed help, and fast.

Injured, I didn't stand a chance against him…

Semper Fi. Always Faithful. Faithful to the Corps… faithful to each other.

I ran as fast as I could towards the barracks… towards my freedom… towards my family.

I was supposed to stay off my foot.

My ankle screamed with pain… but I kept going.

I heard, more than felt, it crack.

White light shot up my leg and into my eyes. Fucking shit! It hurt like a bitch!

I kept going, but at a slower pace. He grabbed my bad shoulder, I hissed in pain as he threw me to the ground.

This time he didn't have time to close his legs, I kicked him with all my might.

Crack. I knew it was my ankle, but in my mind I imagined it was his dick. He yelled in pain and fell to his knees, clutching his most precious jewels which were cheaper than a two cent hooker.

Bastard.

But his yell brought the attention of the guys. They ran out just as I was getting up. I kicked him in the stomach, even though it hurt my ankle more than it did him.

By the time they had made it to me, I was, as my grandma used to say, madder than a wet cat in a grain sack. I kicked him repeatedly, my ankle screaming in pain with each blow it delivered, my adrenaline was so high and strong I could barely feel it. But that high went as fast as it came and I collapsed into the waiting arms of Goat. He grabbed me around the waist and I let my weight rest on him and off my ankle.

Fuck, it hurt so fucking much. Should never have gone for that last kick.

The rest of the guys grabbed the dick up. They didn't know what happened, they didn't ask. They didn't need to.

I was one of them… that's all they needed to know.

Goat took me to the infirmary… I would have been better off setting my ankle myself.

In a military hospital, you never know what kind of treatment you were going to get… this time, I got Dr. Death. He was named so aptly when it was discovered that more of his patients were going into the hospital, but less were coming out.

Goat walked me back and made sure I kept my balance with the newly acquired crutches I was using. Joy.

I never found out what the guys did to shitfuck… all I knew was that he never bothered me again; and upon further investigation… and a bribe of a bottle of genuine Jack Daniels whiskey (Which, since the factory closed during the second great depression had become quite valuable) to the launder, found that the guys had blood specks on their clothes.

Don't worry, they didn't kill him. He was on the news later that week for being caught taking steroids during a bodybuilding competition.

Fucking moron.

Later that night I feel asleep in one of the chairs, the drug the doc gave me kicking my ass. I remember being picked up and carried into my room… the same scent, the one from my birthday, filled my senses again as he laid me down and covered me up.

"Night, Aid."

**DOOMDOOMDOOMDOOMDOOM**

I woke up to find Sam and Duke leaning over one of those fucking demons. She said something about it being human. No matter what the fuck she said, that thing was not human.

I looked around the room, apparently they guys were still gone.

Wait! What in fuck's name was that!

It was Goat! He was alive!

I don't know why, but I reached out for him. He reached a hand out to me. He was changing into one of those things… I was wrong, they were human.

He dropped his hand and looked me straight in the eye. By now Duke and Sam had discovered him, Duke raised his gun.

"What the fuck?" he said as Sam gasped.

Goat crossed himself… no, please don't.

He ran head first into the glass. I think Sam screamed, but I couldn't hear it the only thing I could hear was a low rumble, like thunder. All I could do was watch in horror as the only father I had ever known killed himself. There was a sickening sound as his skull crumbled and sliced into his brain. I heard a yell as I watched his deformed body fall to the ground. Only later did I realize that yell came from me.

**DOOMDOOMDOOMDOOMDOOM**

The Kid came to us two days before our leave … not that I ever take it. I don't have anywhere to go. Usually I would spend my time at the range, practicing my marksmanship. Anyway, The Kid was a replacement for Gunner who had been killed in our last jungle mission.

Portman was saying something about she-boys, the sick pig fucker.

I was sitting with Goat, reading his bible over his should. He didn't mind much, he even made sure I was done with the page before turning it. He reached up and caught an orange that Destroyer and Mac had been using as a baseball. I saw their cardboard catcher, a cutout of a naked woman in a baseball hat with a glove, poised and read to catch the ball. I had my doubts that the real model had ever caught a ball in her life.

"I'm sick of your filth, Portman." Goat said.

"Amen," I echoed. Goat peeled the orange and gave me half. They started to tease John about where he was going for leave, usually he just stayed here at the barracks like me, but sometimes he went out. Usually we just screwed around.

No, not like that you dickweed.

He did what he did, and I did what I did, usually the only time we ever met up was when we were getting something to eat from the kitchen, or when we were going to the shooting range. It's easier to get in if you have two people instead of just one, like a group rate or something… even though it was free.

"Listen up, men." I got over being called a man a long time ago, incase you were interested. Not that you would give a fuck, just thought I would throw that in there. "Leave is canceled."

To say that didn't go over well was an understatement. Duke and Portman were visibly the most pissed. I couldn't give a fuck what Portman thought, but I felt bad for Duke and everyone else.

"What's up, Sarge?" That was Destroyer's deep, rumbling voice.

"We got us a game." Fuck yeah! It had been a hell of a long since I had seen some action.

Okay, so I'm little obsessive…

Okay, so maybe more than just a little, but still…

Sarge said something to the Kid, but I wasn't paying attention. Now don't get me wrong, I usually always listen to Sarge, but I was too busy going over a mental checklist of all I would need for the dangerous and potentially deadly situation.

If I had only known that nothing in the world could prepare me for the hell I was about to find myself going through.

"Fall in."

**DOOMDOOMDOOMDOOMDOOMDOOMDOOMDOOM**

Chapter two, done. Stay tuned for more! R&R!

**EnyoGraeae**: Glad someone was happy to see I put up a new chapter. The sarcasm comes straight from me, though I'm usually only that bad when I'm with my friends.

The basement wasn't so bad… except for the centipedes, millipedes, giant wolf spiders… and the hundreds of dead rollie-pollies. The worst was no internet access. But, I survived! I hope this chapter lives up to the last one!

**LA Knight:** Yeah, it's all in the movie tie-in book.

Amanda


	4. Shit Hits the Fan

I watched, fascinated by that monster as Sam hooked an IV up to him.

Well, I wasn't exactly fascinated… just too fucking out of it to move my head.

My head did, however, turn of its own accord when the guys came back in. Sarge had someone thrown over his shoulder, and so did John.

"Destroyer?" Duke asked… I could hear his heartbreak in his voice.

"And Portman." I may not have liked the bastard… okay, that was an understatement, I hated the fucker, but he was still part of the team. We were a family… albeit a very fucked in the head family, but a family none the less.

What the fuck happened, man?" Duke asked as Sarge sat Destroyer down. "I got him, I got him." He grabbed Destroyer and held he close. "Destroyer, I got you, man. What's up, man?" I could tell he was trying to keep his tears at bay. Sarge shot him a look. He was a privateer, he wasn't supposed to be showing any emotion, especially when he was on a mission. There was time enough later for that, or so we were told.

John tossed Portman down on a gurney. He didn't care too much for him either.

"What the hell is this?" Sarge asked Sam pointing to the demon formerly know as Dr, Carmack. I raised my hand like a kid in a class room. Damn, whatever Sam gave me was some good shit!

"And whose goddamn blood is on that window?" The memory of that brought me back to a sober state of mind, and I dropped my hand.

"Goat's." Sam told him. "He killed himself."

"What do you mean he killed himself? He was already dead!" I had to give him that; he was in the dark as to what was going on.

"It is Goat's." I rasped. Sarge looked over at me like he was surprised I was still alive. Get in line, Princess.

"He was changing into one of these _motherfuckers _and he killed himself." Duke yelled out his pain.

"He didn't want to be one of them… he was too good." Damn my throat was painful.

They started talking again, yelling really, but all I could focus on was Duke and how torn up he was about the death of Destroyer.

He probably felt the same as I did about Goat.

"What are you people working on up here?" Sarge yelled. I'd fucking like to know the answer to that question.

"We're analyzing bones, artifacts. We're not doing anything like this." Sam said, trying to make him understand. I couldn't tell if she was sincere or if she was lying. But if you don't know, then it's always the safer bet to believe they are lying… the lesser of two evils and all.

"Then what the FUCK is that?" Sarge yelled, pointing to the demon formally know as Dr. Carmack.

Sam said something about genetic mutations or viruses. Basically, she didn't know shit.

Big fucking surprise. A sharp pain shot through my stomach. It took me a moment to regain my senses.

"Dr. Carmack's condition… is irreversible…" Sarge pulled out his Desert Eagle and shot the demon in the mouth. Sam screamed. "Because Carmack's condition is that… he's dead."

Holy Shit! I think I missed something while I was in my pain and drug induced stupor.

I felt myself slipping back into unconsciousness, but I fought it off. By the time I was able to focus, John, Sam, and Sarge were looking at the computer on my left, Sam sounded like she was about to have a panic attack. I sat up as much as I could.

Fuck, that hurt like a son of a bitch.

Dr. Carmack was on the screen. He was talking about something, then that something was injected into a man.

"He reconstructed chromosome mutation on a human subject." John said.

That's unethical! What the fuck are these bastards up to here! What chromosomes were they mutating? Why is the room spinning worse than I cheap carnival ride?

"We were never gonna do human studies." Sam was desperate to make Sarge understand that she didn't know anything about it.

"What the hell are we looking at?" I tried to voice the fact that I second that, but I couldn't tear my eyes from the screen.

"Genesis, chapter 1." Yeah, Reaps wasn't creeping me out at _all_.

They put the dude in some kind of holding tank, and he started to freak out… and change. The tape jumped to a few minute later and the man's body started to contort, bones broke and reset in a different shape, and his body jerked violently. The tape continued to jump a few minutes at a time. The words "Hell Knight" scrolled across the screen in blocky letters. Yeah, the dude was a multiple murderer… and they were doing tests that turned him into a demon… what part of fucking logic don't these so called "scientists" understand?

"Chromosome 24." Sam said as she picked up a vial.

But humans only had 23 pairs of chromosomes.

"Oh my God." I was with Reaps on that one.

They created a synthetic chromosome pair? Is that even possible?

Why do I feel like I've missed out on something?

I hate being out of the fucking loop.

Reaper took the disc out of the drive. "This is what you were sent here to protect." Yeah, if I was doing illegal genetic testing on murderers, I'd cover my ass too.

"It doesn't make any sense." Sam couldn't wrap her mind around this. Not like it's an easy fucking thing to understand…

I feel for her… I really do.

"You trusted them. They lied to you. They used you, Sam."

Welcome to my world sweetheart.

"If they perfected xenogenesis--"

"Christ, don't you get it? It's this place. It's hell. It always was." I knew Reaper's parents had died here… so I could see why he thought that…

After what happened to me, I was more than willing to agree with him.

"This shit ends here." Reaper was going to destroy those discs, and I was all for it… but Sarge stopped him.

"I didn't see shit. And I ain't paid to see shit. I have my orders and so do you." He turned to Sam, "Is this everything?" then he yelled, which fucking sucked because my head was starting to kill me…

Huh, that's kinda redundant since I was dieing already anyway.

"_I said_, is this everything?"

She had more to download. Sarge told her to do it, and ordered John to go with her. The rest of them were going to sweep the area and flush these creatures out.

Which all meant…

They were leaving me here… with the bodies… alone.

Fuck that shit!

John came over to me as I tried to sit up

"Hey, hey." He gently pushed me back down. "Don't do that."

I made to protest. Who the hell did he think he was?

"I'm dieing anyway, John. What does it matter?" I rasped.

"Don't talk like that… you're going to be fine." He said as he pulled the blanket back up over my chest.

"You're a fucking horrible liar." I chuckled, then gasped as pain exploded in my abdomen and stars exploded behind my eyes. He brushed my hair from my face and I fought to regain my breath. I felt Sam come over to my other side and Sarge stand at the foot of my bed.

"She's bleeding into her stomach, John." Sam picked up a syringe and added some type of medicine to it. "If she doesn't get help soon, she's going to die."

"See, told you so." I joked to John.

"I won't let that happen." He told me, looking into my eyes. I chalked it up to already losing so many of our squad. I smiled at him as Sam injected the medicine into my IV and I was thrust into dreams once more.

**DOOMDOOMDOOMDOOMDOOM**

We were in the helicopter… Portman just made a joke about asking for pussy and the Kid showing up the next day…

I hate that guy…

But I have to admit, that was fucking funny.

"Don't give me an excuse, Portman." John said as he loaded his gun. "No one here will miss you."

Smartest thing I had heard all day.

"Men, look in." Sarge showed us a recording of what we got from Simcon.

It was some guy named Carmack reporting a level five breech and ordering quarantine procedures to be set in place.

But that wasn't what was interesting…

Something was breaking through the solid steel door.

What the fuck were we getting ourselves into?

**DOOMDOOMDOOMDOOMDOOM**

We landed and watched as the Ark elevator rose up from the ground. We all walked inside, except The Kid… he hesitated.

"You hesitate, people die." Sarge told him. It was The Kid's first mission, so I didn't fault him too much on it… he'll learn.

When we stepped out we were approached by a balding guy with glasses.

Computer nerd.

He introduced himself as Sanford Crosby… Who the hell names their kid Sanford?

His parents must have been sadistic bastards who hated him.

The nerd stuck his hand out to Sarge… Sarge glared at him…

Sarge's glare could've scared the shit out of John Cena... you know, the classic WWE wrestler from 2000… anyway.

I grabbed the guy's hand and did a secret handshake with him…

What! I felt kinda bad for him…

Not his fault he was a moron…

Sarge rolled his eyes at me and the guy looked at me like I was freak.

Join the fucking crowd dickhead…

See if I ever be nice to you again.

We followed needle dick to the Ark.

"Welcome to the Ark, gentleman." I was used to this, but I still wondered if I could make him wet himself if I glared at him.

Almost.

"And… lady."

Duke slapped the back of my head when no one was looking.

What?

"Keep your distance for the core or you might get sucked in." What, this fucker thinks we've never been through the ark before? Dumbass.

Sarge told the guy to shut down the elevator and start the six hour quarantine.

Reaper was the first one through… he didn't look to happy about that.

Can't say that I blamed him…

Fucking hate Ark travel.

Sarge was next, then Goat, then me.

I turned into a silvery blob of mercury, and saw the stars pass by me like a warp speed scene from that ancient TV show, Star-something-or-another.

Then everything changed, and I was back home. I was 13, and was picking wild flowers on the side of the road. I remember what happened as it seemed to happen to me over again. I tried to do everything in my power to stop it. Change the memory into never existing at all, but my body moved of its one accord. I was just suspended in the shell of body.

A black pickup pulled up next to me… a man got out.

No. I refused to relieve this! It's the past, there's nothing I can do to change it… there was nothing I could have done to prevent it.

_But you could've._ A voice breathed into my ear. _You could have stopped this all from ever happening if you truly had wanted to. _It was mocking me.

'I wanted to!' I screamed in my mind. 'I never wanted this to happen!'

_But you did! _It cackled. _Deep down, you wanted this._

'I would have rather had died!' I yelled to the voice as a man jumped from the driver's seat, a fire raging so hot in his eyes it would have burned through steel.

'No.'

_You were too weak to stop it! You're still weak! You're a liability to the team! He was right, you are worthless! You deserved it! You deserve everything you got! You're weak! You should just kill yourself and do the whole world a favor! _It yelled in my ear.

Just as the man reached me, the vision cleared and was filled with the scent of the jungle. The air hung so thick with humidity that walking through it was like trying to slice a frozen stick of butter with a chilled knife. This was the place we had lost Gunner when Reaper went for the decoy. It wasn't his fault, they had fooled us all.

Gunner walked out of the murky, dense forest. Half his head missing just like the last time I had seen his body.

"You're weak! You're the weak link! It was your fault I died… yours alone!" He accused, pointing his finger at me and looking at me with his one eyeball.

More people from my past started to come out, some living, some dead.

"You're weak!" They told me, over and over again and again. They surrounded me as I started spinning. Bloodied hands reached for me, tearing at my clothing and my flesh. "Weak!" They chanted.

Suddenly, a gun appeared in my hands, I checked the chamber… one bullet.

Hands grabbed mine and pushed the gun up, up into my dirt dry mouth.

_Do it. _The voice urged. My finger moved to the trigger and started to pull.

_End it all, now. _I squeezed harder.

"Aidan." A soft voice called to me. "Aidan, don't." It was soft yet firm and commanding. To tell you the truth, I was more afraid to ignore an order from the voice than I was one from Sarge.

My finger leapt from the trigger and tears started to form at the corners of my eyes. I knew that voice.

A petite form stepped from the thick foliage, face grim and determined, yet worried and loving at the same time. She walked up to me and pulled the gun from my mouth.

"Grandma?" My voice was strained and my face red from holding the tears back.

"Yes." She nodded, her kind face smiling. A single sob escaped from my chest, it burned a line of fire as it met with my lips. My grandma cupped my cheek with a warm, soft hand. A stark contrast to the others, whose hands were as hard and cold as ice.

"My girl." She patted my cheek softly. "You're not weak… You're strong. And you're going to need every ounce of that strength to get through what is to come." She kissed my forehead. "I am so proud of you… always remember that." She smoothed back my hair. "Now, you must leave this before it consumes you." She pulled away, the others shrinking back from her like it burned just being in her presence. "Go, now!" She ordered, and the world around me melted into a mercury silver haze.

What the fuck was that all about?

**DOOMDOOMDOOMDOOMDOOM**

The Kid and Portman threw up…

Gross.

"Is it always that rough?" The Kid asked.

"Believe me; it used to be a lot rougher." Some guy with a machine for an ass came wheeling out of nowhere. "There was a time when Ark travel was susceptible to, let's say… major turbulence."

"What's he mean?" Kid asked Reaper.

"He means he went to one galaxy, his ass went to another." I couldn't help but laugh…

And it didn't help that Sarge leaned over to look at the guy's nonexistent ass.

The guy said something about UAC, then introduced himself as Pinky.

After our kill cams were up and running, we all entered into the labs… except Mac, he stayed behind.

Portman was hitting on some chicks… they shot him down…

Good girls.

Then some blond chick came along, Portman switched his attention to her.

"Portman." Sarge scolded.

"Sergeant, this is Dr. Samantha Grimm the UAC science officer assigned to retrieve data from the lab." Grimm? What, was she married to Reaper? She didn't really seem his type, but then again, what the fuck do I know? I don't really remember him with any girls, so I couldn't really say if she was his type or not.

"Sergeant… Hello, John."

"Hello, Samantha."

"Helloo, Samantha!" Sarge and Destroyer looked at Duke. Duke looked around like a kid who had just been caught in the bathroom with a Victoria's Secret catalog.

"We really don't have room for passengers." Uh oh, I felt an argument coming on. I watched as Reaper and Sam quarreled, they had to be siblings. Then she asked Sarge what our orders were…

Fuck, this was not going to turn out good for Reaps.

I was right…

She was coming with us.

**DOOMDOOOMDOOMDOOMDOOM**

We stepped out into the corridor after Goat and Portman made sure there weren't any harmful agents in the atmosphere.

I went along with Sarge and Duke, clearing rooms and marking them with fluorescent marks. The vision I had during Arc travel stored in the back of my mind. No fucking around now, time for business.

We three walked into a room that contained the baddest ass weapons I had ever seen.

Fuck, where do I sign up for this shit!

"I'd hate to see what they lock up." I wouldn't.

Duke asked something about Reaps' sister. I wasn't paying attention; I was looking through the computer at the Bio Force Gun. Holy fucking hell! What the fuck where these people working on? And why the fuck would they need a gun like this?

There was gun fire over the comm.

"All units report contact." I stopped breathing, afraid that I might miss someone calling for help…

These guys were the only family I had. I wasn't about to let some fuckwit start knocking them off.

"God damn it, all units report contact."

"_Friendly fire, Sarge. Wasting ghost_." Destroyer's voice came on over the comm. I let my breath out…

The Kid was going to know what it felt like to have my foot shoved up his bitch ass.

**DOOMDOOMDOOMDOOMDOOM**

Portman and Goat reported movement in Carmack's office…

"_CONTACT_!" Goat yelled over the comm. "_Moving east through Carmack's office! Fast_!" The three of us shot out towards the creature's path.

"There!" I shouted as I shot at it.

"Confirmed contact. Moving fast, over south corridor." Sarge said as we chased after… whatever the fuck it was.

"Hold your fire!" It was John. He stepped out of the hall and took the lead.

We chased whatever is was into a dead end. Sarge turned on the lights to reveal one of the missing doctors. He was covered in blood and clutching a severed arm to his chest.

Sam came in and Reaper grabbed her arm.

"Sam, I told you to stay--"

"But he knows me, John."

She tried to talk down the freaked out doctor, but it obviously didn't work…

He reached up… and ripped his own ear off his head.

How in the _fuck_ can someone rip their fucking ear off their own head! Fuck me! What the fuck is going on here? What would make someone do that? Shit!

**DOOMDOOMDOOMDOOMDOOM**

I went along with Goat and Reaper as we tried to flush the fucker over to Kid and Portman.

We crept along quietly until Goat accidentally kicked a container down the stairs.

"God damn it." Goat whispered. John gave Goat a look as the can came to a stop, and sighed. I followed suit and gave Goat a small smile… at least nothing came of it.

I looked over to Goat and watched as he made a perfect cross shaped cut with his hunting knife. I elbowed Reaper and nodded towards Goat.

"I took his name in vain." I had seen the scars on his arm, and even the fresh cuts. But I had never actually seen him do it…

It freaked me out.

Sometimes I hated that he was so devoted.

John wasn't too comfortable with it either. It's hard to see your friend hurting themselves and know you can't do anything to stop them.

Reaper and I exchanged brief glances before continuing down the stairs, letting Goat finish up his ritual.

**DOOMDOOMDOOMDOOMDOOM**

We had heard something in genetics, and we re-entered.

There were cages… they were empty…

They were covered in fucking animal entrails.

"Looks like we missed the party." No shittin' Reaper.

"We were just here. What happened to all the animals?" Goat was a little freaked out…

When Goat's freaked out, you know everything isn't peachy fucking keen.

As we walked further in we could see blood splattered over the walls and entrails hanging off the cages…

But that was all that was left of the animals that were there earlier.

Fuck.

There was a sudden growl, and the three of us trained our guns onto someone in a white coat who had their back turned to us. Goat and Reaper brought their guns down, but I kept mine up… my grandma's words coming back to me… Something wasn't right.

Something was completely fucked up here.

"Sir, RRTS. We're here to help." He turned towards us, but turned back around. "Sir, are you okay?"

The guy jerked around and bit the head off of a live rat…

It's times like these when there are no cusswords or combinations of cusswords that can describe how it is you feel.

"Oookay." Well, I guess that was as good as anything… thanks Reaper.

"I think that's no." I said to John as the three of us looked on in disgust.

"Yeah, that's no." He nodded.

The thing stuffed the rest of the rat into his mouth and slurped the tail up like spaghetti…

Spaghetti from hell.

He grabbed a knife.

"No, no, no. Sir, put it down." John ordered. It charged us.

We shot him…

Shit.

**DOOMDOOMDOOMDOOMDOOM**

We were making our way out into the hallway when there was a growl from inside the genetics room. We turned just as something jumped out of the ceiling…

Something fucking huge.

We shot at it as it ran away…

Sane people would have run in the opposite direction…

But we're not sane people…

We're Marines.

"_Reaper, what have you got?_" Sarge came over the comm.

"We're chasing something."

"_What do you mean something?"_

"Something big, not human."

"_God Damn It! Give me a confirmation on what you're seeing."_

How the fuck are we supposed to do that when we don't even know what the fuck we're seeing!

"Reaper." Goat said, gun pointing to an open grate.

"It's in the sewer."

Ew.

**DOOMDOOMDOOMDOOMDOOM**

"And I though 'being in the shit' was a figure of speech."

Apparently not.

"Get in the goddamn hole, Portman."

We jumped down into the nastiest shit I had ever seen in my entire life.

Fan-fucking-tastic.

Pinky told us about the tunnel, and Sarge told Destroyer to cover the exit… the rest of us slopped on.

We came upon a blood stained lab coat… Willits.

This did not bode well.

"Be sober, be vigilant… because you adversary, the devil… walketh about seeking whom he may devour." I fucking hated when he did that.

"That's real comforting, Goat. That ain't freaking me out at all." Portman said just seconds before he was pulled under the sludge, screaming.

Reaper, Goat, and I grabbed for him. Fuck, he was heavy!

After almost losing him, his head finally broke the surface and we hauled his ass up,

"Portman, what the hell happened?" Sarge demanded.

"I fell in the damn hole. Shit." Stupid fucking dipshit.

"Everybody on me. And watch you goddamn footing. Move."

And I though I was in the suck earlier.

Further on, the tunnel split into three different directions.

"Goat, Cowboy, straight ahead."

"Sir."

"Yes, sir."

"Shit." Goat said as his light went started going out.

"Fuck." My light had broken back when I was trying to help save Portman's ass… if his light went out, we were screwed.

"_Goat, Cowboy, I think there's something coming up on you._" Reaper's voice floated through the comm.

We turned around just as his light went out… fucking brilliant.

**DOOMDOOMDOOMDOOMDOOMDOOMDOOM**

Oh, what ever will happen next? Stay tuned to find out! R&R!

Okay, so now we're getting into the real story. I hop you all enjoyed!

LA Knight: I'm glad you enjoy this! It makes me feel all warm and fuzzy inside when people like my stories -… course, it is 102 here so it could just be the heat.

To answer your questions:

Ah! That, my young padawan, is a mystery that will remain just that, a mystery, for now, at least.

No, Portman was the guy they beat the crap out of, it was before he joined the RRTS.

Lamminator: I'm glad you were able to discern my writing style for this story. I tried to make it as un-confusing as possible. I'm also glad you like how I did it. I got lucky when I found the book, it was at Hastings and it was the last one left. I'm glad you like the "princess" bit, it's one of my favorite lines in the story… which is why it showed up again in this chapter. I hope you like it!

New chapter up soon!

Amanda


	5. DOOM ON YOU!

"This isn't happening." Goat said as he hit his flashlight.

"Please say this isn't fucking happening." I said as I kept my gun trained on the tunnel ahead.

"My light is down." He reported. "So's Cowboy's." We moved along slowly. "We can't see anything."

"_Don't move. I'm on my way."_ John said over the comm.

"Hurry." I whispered.

"Pinky… can you see anything?"

"_No. Nothing."_ Shit, fuck, shit, fuck, fuck.

We stopped short as we heard growling on our right. Goat got in front of me as something moved.

Two eyes looked at us through the dark…

"Dr. Willits?" Goat asked. Two eyes became seven and someone, no; some_thing_ leaped from the dark and bit him on the neck. He yelled out.

No…

I fired my weapon at the thing as its tongue ripped off in Goats jugular. He turned and whipped my gun out of my hand with a growl.

FUCK!

The thing grabbed me around the throat and shoved me to the wall, I was choking.

Son of a bitch, it was strong.

It stuck its claws into my stomach… Hot, blinding pain engulfed my entire body.

Oh God!

"Cowboy!" Reaper yelled as he came to our position. The demon's attention was drawn away from me as it growled at Reaper, its long, razor sharp teeth glinting in the glow of his gun light. I was able to grab my knife from its carrier on my thigh and stabbed the fucker in the side. It roared and ripped its claws out of me, sending me flying into the wall next to Goat.

"You're dead!" John shouted as he chased after the demon, gun blazing.

I grabbed my stomach and crawled over to Goat.

No… this can't be happening…

THIS CANNOT BE FUCKING HAPPENING!

I ripped the tongue out of his throat and put pressure on his wound.

"Stay with me Goat! Just stay with me! Help is coming! Just keep breathing! Please!" I begged as his eyes started to gloss over. I was covered in his blood.

"Man down!" Reaper shouted after he killed whatever the fuck that thing was. "Man down!"

**DOOMDOOMDOOMDOOMDOOM**

"Clear!"

I stood back, holding my stomach and watching in horror as they tried to shock Goat back to life.

"I've lost the pulse." Duke said.

"Shit."

"Okay, gonna defib. Clear."

"Come on."

"Come on."

"No response."

"We're losing him!"

My mind drifted away as the sound of the EKG machine filled my ears… it went back to the day I knew Goat would always be there for me.

**DOOMDOOMDOOMDOOMDOOM**

"Happy birthday." Goat said as he came up to me in the barracks.

"Thanks." I smiled at him. We were alone; everyone else was at mess, talking about how drunk they were going to get at my party. I was turning 21, a major mile stone they told me…

They just wanted a legit excuse to get shitfaced… not that they ever need one, being in the military was reason enough.

"I know you don't believe in Him." Goat said as he moved to stand behind me. "But that doesn't mean He doesn't believe you." He reached around and put something on my neck. "Happy Birthday." I looked down.

It was a small cross made from sapphires…

It was the most beautiful thing I had ever been given…

And it came from a man I had only known for a few months.

I turned around to look at him… he was smiling.

He hugged me.

"I'm starting to believe."

**DOOMDOOMDOOMDOOMDOOM**

The EKG flatline filled my ears like an ominous song in a cheap horror movie. I closed my eyes and turned to face the wall as a cold chill descended upon me like an icy river, and my heart broke into a million pieces with just two little words.

"He's gone."

I heard John cuss, then kick the tray table.

Sarge started yelling at Sam… but I didn't hear.

I felt a hand on my shoulder.

"Aidan." John whispered to me. I turned to him, the steady drip, drip, drip, of blood droplets hitting the floor drew his attention down to my abdomen… There shouldn't have been that much blood.

His eyes widened as he remove my hand. The blood flowed freely… I started to get dizzy.

"Sam!" He called as he put my arm around his shoulders and dragged me to a table. "Hold on." He whispered. He gently set me on the gurney and guided my head down onto a pillow. "Sam!"

Sam stopped arguing with Sarge and ran over.

"What happened?" She asked.

"It must have been when that fucker had her against the wall." Reaper said as the rest of the guys crowded around the table.

"Shit, man." Duke said to my right.

"Hold on, baby girl." Destroyer told me.

Sam and John removed my vest and she started to cut away my shirt.

"Oh, God!" She said. It felt as if my guts were trying to fall out of my body…

Because they were.

The pain started getting worse. I heard a scream.

It barely registered to me that it was my scream.

"It's okay." John whispered to me as he stoked my hair. "It's okay."

But it wasn't.

"You'll be okay."

But I wouldn't…

I was dieing… and I knew it.

Sam stuck an IV into my arm and started me on blood. I was loosing it fast now that my shirt was gone.

"Stay with us." John whispered as Sam grabbed a bottle of something and filled a syringe with it. She injected it into the IV.

"Stay with _me_." He whispered.

Everything turned black.

**DOOMDOOMDOOMDOOMDOOMDOOMDOOM**

Another chapter done. R&R.

Vana: Hey! Thanks! I'm glad you're enjoying it. I tried to make her a un-Mary Sue as possible. It's not easy. Yeah, her point of view is really just what I would be thinking if I was in the movie… I have an over-active imagination. Keep on reading!

No, I'm afraid that it was not C24 that Sam injected into to Cowboy. Just and intravenous pain killer.

Amanda.

Ha, I was watching Ice Age, and now all I could hear while I was writing this was those stupid Dodo birds going: Doom on you! DOOM ON YOU!


	6. Never Die Alone

And that's where you all came in at.

But now I was alone in the room with only dead bodies to keep me company.

I had woken up after that last round of drugs Sam had given me wore off… and I was alone.

I didn't think I would die alone, but it was looking like that was how it was going to happen.

Then Reaper and Sam came running into the lab.

"Aidan." John ran over to me. "Aidan, we have to leave."

He was leaving me here! He couldn't do that!

"D-don't leave m-me." It came out as a whimper.

"No." He said. "You're coming with us."

"She's losing blood fast, John. If I remove the IV, she'll die."

"If we leave her here, she'll die!" He yelled at Sam. He wrapped a blanket around me, getting ready to carry me to the Ark.

"Chromosome 24." Same said, stopping John. "It could keep her alive."

"Or turn her into one of those monsters!"

Wait! I don't want to be one of those things!

"It's her only chance!" John looked down at me.

"Okay." Sam put a syringe into a container, and then injected it into my IV.

"John." I whispered. He leaned down. "If I turn into one of those things, kill me."

"You won't… you're too good." He told me.

"Promise me, please. I don't want to be trapped as one of those things… promise me."

"I promise." Sam removed the IV and helped me pull a scrub shirt on. John picked me up and ran with me in his arms to the Ark.

"It was you." I whispered as his scent filled my senses.

"What?" He asked.

"That night, after my birthday… the night after the dick attacked me… It was you." I was having trouble breathing now… my lungs felt like they were on fire, a thick layer of mucus building up in their passage ways making my diaphragm work harder at trying to push air through them. "You were the one who carried me to bed… You were the one who carried me to bed… it was you."

"Yeah." He whispered to me. "It was me." He set me down as Sam came over and helped me stand up… God it hurt so bad. "I'll go through first so I can catch her. You help her, and then get yourself through."

"Okay." Sam said as John stepped into the Ark.

"Your brother is an amazing person." I breathed.

"Yeah… and he likes you." She smiled sadly at me. "Don't leave us, okay?" She helped me to the Ark and I fell into the silvery blob.

**DOOMDOOMDOOMDOOMDOOMDOOMDOOM**

Short chapter, but more to come. It's almost over! This has to be the shortest multi-chapter story I've ever wrote! Anyway, R&R!

Amanda


	7. What Fools We Mortals Be

The vision came again; only everyone was there this time… telling me I was weak… that I should end it. The gun was in my mouth, my finger on the trigger.

"He needs you!" My grandma called.

"I need you!" A man's voice called at the same time. "Come back to me." The gun dropped from my hand and everything melted to silver once more.

I felt the hard thud as my feet hit the ground, and strong arms wrapped around my shoulders.

"I gotcha." John said as he moved me away from the Ark and over to a wall.

There were dead bodies all over. Everyone had a hole in their head…

Even some who hadn't changed.

What the fuck was going on?

"Stay here." John told me. Yeah, like I was fucking going anywhere.

My sight was starting to get fuzzy around the edges… like my eyes were dilating. I blinked several times, trying to clear it.

"You don't have to kill all of them." I heard Sam tell Sarge. "I don't think everyone is infected, or even capable of being infected." Her gaze shifted over to me slightly. I sure hope she was right… the last thing I wanted was for Sarge to put a round in my head.

"We have orders to contain this threat by any means necessary."

"So let's evacuated the uninfected…" John walked over to Sarge from where he had set me down. "And blow this place to hell."

I second that idea…

But no one listens to the dieing.

"And we have orders to protect this facility."

"We don't have orders to kill innocent people." John growled at him.

Fuck, this wasn't good… this was fucking bad.

'We have to stop anything from getting to the surface… by… any… means… _necessary_." Damn, that fucker can be scary as hell when he wanted to be.

I hoped John wouldn't give in.

"Found this little chicken shit hiding under a pile of dead bodies." Leave it to Duke to break the tension, I could just kiss him!

Or maybe I should leave that to Sam.

"Am I glad to see you guys." The dickless wonder gimp said as he rolled his non-existent ass into view. "That… _thing_ cut right through the door. I tried to use the grenade but it came at me too fast. Followed me through the Ark and started to kill everybody." Sam checked his neck for any wounds. "It was horrible."

Pussy.

"There's no wound on his neck. He's clean." Sam said as she stalked back to Sarge.

"I say who's clean…" Sarge cocked his gun, "and who's not."

"I mean, it wasn't my fault." Pinky started begging. "Hey, I'm not a soldier." Sarge aimed his gun at Pinky. He was going to shoot an unarmed civilian! He couldn't do that! That wasn't the Marine way, damn it! "You shouldn't have left me--"

"Sarge." Thank God for the Kid showing up when he did. "There's a storeroom to the south. It's got, like, twenty people holed up inside of it. We gotta do something."

"Your orders were to clear that sector."

Sarge had lost his fucking mind! They're fucking people, not insurgents!

"Is it cleared?"

"No," the Kid looked confused. "I told them to stay put. They're okay. They're just scared shitless."

The Kid would make a great Marine one day… I was proud of him.

"We kill them all." Sarge ordered. "Let God sort them out."

"This is wrong. I think--"

"Son, you don't think. That's an order. We're in the field, soldier."

"Sarge, if nothing's found them--"

"You will obey the direct order… of your commanding officer."

Their voices were starting to sound like echoes… this wasn't a good sign.

The Kid shook his head.

"No." Good boy.

"Now."

"Go to hell." Gunfire.

NO!

"No!" John yelled, voicing my thoughts.

The bullet hit the Kid in the throat… he fell…

He never got back up.

Not the Kid too… please!

But my silent pleas fell on deaf ears…

He was gone.

"Mutinous insurrection is punishable… by death." Fucking bastard! I hate him! I hope he died for what he did to the Kid…

He was just a kid!

"It was his first mission!"

"And it's not going to be my last!" Selfish fucking bastard! "I need soldiers. I don't need anybody else but soldiers."

John closed the Kid's eyes.

He stood up and pointed his gun at Sarge… Sarge pointed his gun at John…

It was a Mexican standoff.

"Drop the weapons!" Pinky shouted, holding up a gun. "I mean it! I have no intention of being killed by a madman. Drop the weapons."

Something moved behind the gimp…

He's a dead man.

"Ah, there's something behind me, isn't there?" Seconds later the demon grabbed Pinky by the head. He threw him into a table, then into a tank of some sort hitting Reaper in the process and knocking the senses out of him. Sarge started to fire at the demon as it dragged Pinky off down the hall.

"On me!" Sarge ordered. Duke ran after him and John followed once he cleared his head, the earlier conflict forgotten and the training kicking in again.

"Get Sam!" I heard John order Duke.

"Wait here." He told Sam after he took her to the nanowall.

I heard shots… I heard yelling. They ran back through the nanowall, Sarge hit the close button so hard it broke…

The wall wouldn't close…

We were fucked…

Course, I was fucked already.

"Fuck! The wall's not closing!"

I heard Duke grunt, looking over I saw two demon arms reach up through the grate and attach to his ankles. He looked at Sam as she screamed.

Not another one…

Fuck this place!

It pulled Duke through the grate, blood poured from his mouth as took one last look at Sam… then he was gone.

I turned and look at Sarge as he fell to the ground.

"I'm not supposed to die." He said just as he was pulled through the wall.

John kept shooting until the wall closed. He groaned and jumped backwards.

Everything started to get blurry… like a film was covering my eyes.

"Let's go!" I heard John yelled to Sam. He grabbed her and they ran towards me. He shot in the grate that Duke had been pulled down through.

"Come on!" He yelled to Sam as he slid to a halt next to me. He went to pick me up.

"No." I breathed to him, using the last bit of strength that I had to reach for his arm. My vision cleared slightly and I was able to see his face.

"We have to move, now!" He told me.

"No," I gulped… it was almost impossible to breath now. "It's too late John… go."

"I'm not leaving without you!"

"Go; get Sam and yourself out of here!" I ordered him… not that it came out as strong as I wanted it to… more like a breathy plea.

"You're coming with us."

"Fuck, John… you don't… have time… for this." I was suffocating. "I'm dying John… nothing can save… me now."

"I won't leave you. We're the last of the team… we have to stick together." I used everything in me to push his arm away.

"Go, John! Go. Save Sam. Save her." He shook his head…

I felt death coming. "I… l-love… you." I whispered to him as my eyes closed of their own accord.

"No!" I felt him grab my head. "Don't leave me."

No air was moving through my lungs.

"I need you! I--" I never heard the end…

I fell away into nothingness.

**DOOMDOOMDOOMDOOMDOOMDOOMDOOM**

The End?

Lamminator: Just tying up loose ends in the last chapter. So, does this make up for the last chapter?

Hotarunokoishi: Glad you like he way I incorporated the C24, Yeah, well I who wouldn't want to have John carry them to bed… course he didn't stay the night, but oh well. ;)

Vana: Yeah, it was short, but like I said, just tying up those loose ends. Hope you liked this one!

EnyoGraeae: Glad to have you back! Okay, so to your reviews:

Glad you still like the sarcasm, it's in my blood line… my entire family is filled with smartasses. Yeah, she needed a father figure and Goat seemed to be the best one for it. I think the cutting is horrible but it does add to his intensity. I wanted to show how different Sam is from Reaper so I decided to try and make her a little softer. The forest fire, yeah… I was thinking about writing a short about that, it could be a lot of fun! As many guesses as you want but I think you'll only need one! I hated that Goat died in the movie, but it was essential to the story line.

Yeah, Destroyer had the best fight scene in the whole movie, next to Reaper that is. Oh yeah, I loved the way he just kinda tossed Portman on the table like a sack of grain. I've done that when I was in trouble and getting yelled at as a kid, sometimes you just have to do that when it comes to those idiotic questions. Sarcasm makes the world go 'round! Deep down, past that Marine exterior, he's just a big teddy bear! The book has Reaper's experience of going through the ark in it, and it isn't pleasant at all, so I took the idea and added it to her experience. See, it does pay off to wait to read stories for a while! laughs

Yep, that's how cowboy gets it. Not a pleasant way to go, either. When she can she does wear it all the time. Like that line did ya? It's one of my favorites in the entire story! She may die yet! And turn into one of those… thingies.

I could end it all now… still debating that. Would be a good to stop right here. Yup, all those loose end are now gone. If she survives she still might be one of those things, you never know, the next chapter is still in the works and I haven't decided yet! Yup, Reaps is a bit sweet on her, and he's her "guardian angel". Okay, now all the reviews you left have been answered. I'm glad you still like this; I hope you keep on reading!

I haven't decided on the last chapter yet, whether she's okay, turns into one of those demons, or I should just do a prolog and have it end here. Any suggestions?

Amanda


	8. Promises Kept Half Chapter

Reaper woke with a strange tingling throughout his body, like the tingling you get after your foot falls asleep. The tingling of blood rushing through the body. He looked to his arm; all the scratches and cut were gone, healed over.

He was sitting up in the infirmary… alone. Where was Sam?

"Sam?" He called as he stood up. He turned, catching sight of himself in the mirror… wiping the blood away from he saw that all his cuts had been healed. Not even a trace of a scar remained. He looked around the room and saw everything had been trashed, and Sam was gone.

Determined, he picked up his gun and slammed a clip in. Stepping over the debris he made his way into the dimly lit corridor.

As he moved along he became more aware of his incredibly acute senses. He could smell everything, bile, urine, sweat, old blood… new blood. He could hear everything, his feet clomping against the floor, the air whooshing through the ducts, the sound of claws on metal. Those were the sounds he followed.

His vision was perfect, even in the dark he could see everything.

His gun was as if there was nothing there and running took no effort, as if the corridor was rushing past him and he was just standing still.

He turned down a hallway, hearing a gurgling noise coming from it. It was a partially tuned creature feasting on a corpse. He shot, one shot, deadly accurate. Sneering in disgust, he retuned to locating his sister… or what was left of her.

He turned this way and that, killing the turned and partially turned as he went.

He entered a hall way and felt himself being jerked off his feet. His gun flew from his hand as something grabbed his neck and stabbed him in the stomach with its claws. Red flew before his eyes as the pain flared and his hand flew up to the hand of the creature, loosening his grip so that air could fill his lungs. The creature growled, showing it pearly white razor sharp teeth.

Reaper grabbed the neck of the creature, trying to force it away from him when he felt something strange. He pulled a chain from around the demon's neck… it had cross on it… made of sapphire.

"Aidan." He whispered in helplessness. The creature blinked. "Aidan." He said with tears in his voice. The creature looked confused, and then backed off, dropping Reaper in the process.

"Aidan, please, no, not you… please." He begged. The creature stared at him, understanding in its eyes. Understanding and… pleading? Reaper looked up into its intelligent eyes. He understood.

"I made a promise." He said. The creature nodded. Reaper looked into those familiar dark eyes, seeing the battle the creature was having, the internal struggle it had as its predatorial instinct fought to regain control over the piece of Aidan that was still there and still just as strong as he ever remembered it.

He choked down a sob as he aimed his gun at it- no, her. "I'm sorry." She nodded in understanding and spread her arms wide, as if already feeling the freedom of death.

"I'm sorry."

BAM!

_**DOOMDOOMDOOMDOOMDOOMDOOMDOOM**_

Dodges airborne missiles made of ordinary household items and kitchenware.

I know, I know! You all hate me, you do! And you have every right. But just keep in mind that there is ONE more chapter in this left. Okay. So just be patient and take deep breaths. Ducks behind couch

Apparently I freaked a lot of people out, and now I know I pissed quite a few off now, but ONE MORE CHAPTER! Just keep that in mind.

Bunnychica9: Glad to hear from you. Yeah, about the whole turning into a creature thing, sorry. But I had to do it! Good news is she lived!

…

For a while. Keep on reading! I was glad to hear from you!

Hotarunokoishi: Lemons are good… I like lemons! ;)

Yeah, kind of hard to write things like that without making them a bit of a pity party thing, but I tried my best. Yeah, I've watched too many westerns.

Glad you like the moment. Tried to keep the whole situation going on around them in mind so it couldn't be too… drawn out. Keep on reading!

Vana: blinks I think I'll just talk to your logical side because your Hysterical side is freaking me out. Yeah, again, sorry about turning her, but I remind you all there is one more chapter, don't hate me so much that you quite reading. Yeah, I had fun writing about Sarge's character through her eyes. I know, I thought about letting Duke live, but then I didn't want to change the original story too much. He was so cool, I also Destroyer, Kid, and Goat to live, but oh well. To the Hysterical Side: Is this considered a cliffy? Sorry I'm so cruel… well, no, I'm really not (Insert maniacal laughter here). Err… sorry.

123: It's not over yet! Keep reading.

EnyoGraeae: Sorry! I did! Well, she did live in this chapter.

I love to make my characters suffer… it's the sadistic side of my personality. All my writing has suffering in it. Poor Reaper. I feel bad for him, but what can you do?

I love all of those ideas! Especially the last one, with her jumping Sarge and saving reaper. Might keep that in mind for later. Don't worry, I like it when people get so into my stories they make up endings for it, makes it fun!

I hope you like this, and keep on reading! It's almost over.

Lamminator: Glad that chapter made up for it. Yeah, another one who wanted her to turn out okay. Again, sorry. Don't worry, my brain does that all the time. Keep Reading!


	9. I Feel so Alive

They say that before you die your life flashes before your eyes…

But what if your death is long and drawn out?

Do you get to see more of your life… is it more detailed?

The answer is yes.

But it's never been proven…

Because no one's ever survived death.

Until now.

**DOOMDOOMDOOMDOOMDOOM**

My eyes flew opened and I gulped greedily at the cool air that filled my vacant lungs.

I was alive.

I was fucking alive!

I sat up and looked around… everything came back to me.

I lifted my shirt up and removed the bloodied bandages.

All that was left of the deep, deadly gashes on my abdomen were three long, shallow, white scars.

There was no more blood, there was no more pain.

I stood up and walked over to one of the blank computer screens… afraid what I might see.

But I saw me… I wasn't turning into one of those demons… I was still me.

I looked to the screen on the left… we were still under quarantine…

That meant John and Sam were still here! I had to find them.

I jogged over to where the Kid's body lay… I grabbed his weapons and ammo…

"You were brave, kid… you did great." I said a prayer for him that Goat had taught me, then kissed his forehead. "Rest in peace, Kid… say hi to Goat for me." And I ran off in search of my friends.

I felt different… it was strange. I was hyper vigilant, aware of everything that was going on around me…

I never felt more alive in my entire life.

I heard something move to my right.

"John?" I called out as I moved towards it. "Sam!" I turned the corner…

Someone charged me with a knife… I popped one shot off, direct hit in the head… I kept going.

As I kept going, they kept coming. Some had changed completely, some still in their partial human form… but all were still evil.

No matter where I went, they were there. It was as if the fuckers were waiting for me…

They probably were… they were fucking scientists after all.

"John! Sam!" I kept calling as I made my way through the labyrinth of never ending hallways. I felt as if I was going in circles, but I kept going.

Bodies were everywhere: being ravaged by rats that gorged themselves on the flesh, eyes, and internal organs of the people who were unlucky enough to find themselves murdered, by the demons. I watched in disgust as one rat climbed out of a woman's mouth, only to enter back through her vacant eye socket, getting better access to her now useless brain.

Fuck.

I moved on, killing more and more of those fucking demons. Not once coming across an uninfected person… not once coming across Sam or John…

I was starting to fear the worst.

That I was alone here with only these demons to keep me company.

But no!

Gunfire!

I ran as fast as I could towards the sound, killing several more demons that got in my way.

It was right around the corner.

"Hold fire!" I yelled.

"Who the hell are you?" It was John's voice! "Come out." He ordered me.

I walked out into the hall, hands in the air and gun hanging at my side.

"Cowboy?" John asked, shock evident in his voice.

"Reaper." I sighed in relief as he lowered his gun.

"Aidan." He whispered as he ran over to me and hugged me as tight as he could.

"John." I mumbled into his shoulder. God, I had never been happier to see anyone in my entire life.

"You're alive." He whispered into my hair and kissed my head. "I thought I'd lost you."

I pulled back to look into his eyes.

This was getting too emotional for me…

I hated when things got fucking emotional.

"You didn't think you could get rid of me that easily, did ya?" I joked. He didn't laugh, but did something I was totally unprepared for.

He kissed me!

He poured all his emotions into that single kiss; his fear, rage, grief, worry, relief, passion, and, dare I think it, love.

He pulled away after several seconds.

"Don't leave me ever again." He whispered with his forehead against mine.

"Not as long as you stay with me." I whispered back.

He pulled away and reality came crashing back down around us. There was an unspoken understanding that passed between us…

We had to find Sam.

Our guns at the ready, we moved on. We came up on the elevator doors.

_LOCKDOWN 01:54_

We had to find Sam before the lockdown was over. John and I looked to our right… there was a huge fucking hole in the steel wall… I looked to John for an explanation.

"Sarge." He growled. "He found that gun in the weapons room."

"The BFG." The memory of the schematics for the Bio Force Gun came back to me in a flash.

How in the _fuck_ did he get that!

We moved along the hallway, guns going left and right, up and down, searching for any threat that might come our way.

There was something around the corner… it was Sam.

John ran over to her and checked for a pulse.

"Sam." He called to her.

"You're alive." She whispered to him, eyes closed.

"Shh. Don't talk."

"Reaper." I whispered as I pointed my gun at the worst of all the demons.

"Last man standing, Reaper." Sarge at the same time I said John's nickname.

He glared at Sarge. He knew as well as I… that wasn't Sarge.

"You're alive, too." Sam said to me as she lifted her head. I nodded, but kept my eyes trained on Sarge.

"I think she needs medical attention." Sarge was trying to act like a normal human…

Fuckturd.

John stood up and stepped next to me.

"Get her to the elevator." He whispered to me. I nodded… this was his fight.

I picked Sam up, and with one last look at Sarge and John, I left with Sam in my arms and whispered. "Come back to us," to John.

I carried Sam to the elevator doors and gently set her down.

"Where are you hurt?" I asked her.

"My leg… it's broken." She gasped in pain as I felt for the break. As my hands glided over her leg I was amazed at how sensitive my touch was. I could feel every tiny hair on her lower leg, every goose pimple, every old scar and every new scrape. I reached a bump that would be hard for all but the most practiced doctors to feel without causing her any excruciating pain. My finger tips glided over it and around it.

"It'll need to be set and cast, not much displacement, close to the ankle, still aligned. I don't think you'll need any surgery." I told her as I sat back on my haunches and grabbed a small flashlight I got off of the Kid.

"You sound like a doctor." She tipped her head back against the cool metal door of the elevator.

"Nah, I thought about it though…" I checked the responsiveness of her pupils. "You have a slight concussion." I clicked the light off and moved to sit next to her. "I went with my brother to the doctors once after he had broken his leg…I think I annoyed the doctor with all the fucking questions I asked though." She chuckled slightly.

"How do you know so much about medicine?" She asked. I knew she was just trying to stay conscious, so I humored her.

"Well, we were all given the basics in first aid during training… but I took a few courses in college and became a certified EMT."

"Really?"

"Yeah," I gave a bitter laugh. "The only thing in college I had the patience to finish."

"Why did you become a Marine?"

"I had dreamt about being in the military my entire life… Marines just seemed to fit." I shrugged.

"You're sound like John. He was so smart; he could have been anything he wanted to be. _But_ he decided to become a Marine instead." She looked over at me. "Why?"

"I don't know… I just knew it was what I wanted to do." I shrugged again. "Didn't you feel the same about becoming a scientist?"

"Yeah, I guess I did." She looked up at the ceiling. "But John wanted to be just like dad, once. Until the accident."

"Well, I didn't plan on joining up right away either."

"Really?"

"Yeah. I planned on joining the ROTC and getting my degree first, then entering as an officer."

"What made you change your mind?" Her words were starting to slur.

"I got into a fight with my mom… a lot of fights. She wanted me to be something I didn't want to be, so..."

"You left."

"I left, and I never looked back." I laughed bitterly. "I had cut myself off from, not only my entire family, but all emotions as well, until I met Goat."

"Goat?"

"Yeah, he became a father to me." I smiled remembering… well, everything about him.

"Sorry." She breathed.

"'s okay." There was a lull in conversation for a while.

"Did you hear what he said?" She asked.

"Who said?"

"John. When you were… dieing."

"Don't leave me?" I ventured a guess. "I was the last one of the team left, besides him… that's all."

"He said that. But he also said he…" I stopped her.

"Shh." I told her, grabbing my weapon.

I heard something…

"What?" Sam asked. I put my hand up, signaling her to stay quiet.

"Here, take this." I handed her a hand gun. "The safety's off, so be careful." I stood up and pointed my gun towards the hallway.

A figure appeared…

It was…

"John!" Sam and I said at the same time. I let my gun fall to my side as he came over to us. He wrapped his strong arms around me and let out a sigh of relief.

So it was done.

He knelt down next to Sam.

"Are you okay?" He grabbed her face and looked into her eyes.

"Yeah, I have a broken leg and a slight concussion." She smiled over at me. "Or so I've been told." I slightly grinned at her and opened the elevator doors.

"Well, I think it's about time we get the fuck out of here." John nodded and cradled Sam in his arms as the three of us stepped into the elevator.

**DOOMDOOMDOOMDOOMDOOM**

We watched through the glass top roof as we made our ascent up into the world of the living.

I put my head down on John's unoccupied shoulder.

"Almost home." He said to Sam and me as he set his head down on top of mine.

The sun shone brightly, like a beacon telling us that our time in hell was over, and heaven was finally within our grasp.

**_Fin… almost._**

_2 weeks later_

"Did you have weird dreams after you were injected with C24?" John asked me as we stood next to each other, drinking coffee. I couldn't help but notice how fucking good he looked in his blue-gray oversized sweatshirt and jeans. The smell of coffee, sage, and old-spice overwhelming my senses…

"Huh?" I asked dumbly, his words breaking me out of my stupor. He grinned; knowing what was attracting my attention… jerk.

"I said did C24 give you any weird dreams when you were first injected?"

"No." I said slowly… news to me. "Why?"

"I had a fucking crazy dream that you had turned into one of those things." He had this look of seriousness on his face.

"And…" I started, not sure if I wanted to hear the answer to my next question. "Did you… you know…" He raised his eyebrows at me. Damn sexy mother… "Kill me?"

He looked at his coffee. Took a sip of the bitter beverage, and then meet my eyes with his deep brown ones.

"Yes." He was solemn in his reply, like it was upsetting to him to remember what happened in that fucked-up dream.

I took a sip of my coffee and stared out across the vast landscape.

The sun was rising here in the desert. Everything seemed to have a pink tint to it. The eastern skyline was a mass array of colors, reds, blues, pinks, purples, oranges, all painting the mesas and hills in a color that can't be describe by mere words nor ever recreated. I breathed the cool, dry air in deeply, letting it refresh me, letting it awaken me more then a million cups of coffee could.

"Thank you." I whispered to John. No more words were said; he put his arm around me and pulled me closer to him and rested his chin on the top of my head as we watched the sun rise up over the painted desert.

"So," I started, "what were you going to say, you know, when you thought I was dieing. I mean I heard the whole 'Don't leave me. I need you,' part. But what did you say after that?"

I felt his laugh as its deep rumble encased my entire body.

"I said I…"

_**Fin.**_

I have an idea for a sequel, or I could just post an epilogue. You pick! I had so much fun writing this, and I hope you all had as much fun reading it!

Hotarunokoishi: I'm sorry, does this make up for it, or do you still hate me? Hope you like this chapter and thank you for being such a faithful reviewer!

Vana: I'm proud of myself for making you speak in single word sentences. I was so sure about putting the fact that Reaper cried in there, but I thought it might be good to see him show a bit of emotion.

Hatedly, no, I don't think that's a word, but I guess it does fit! I just did that little twist to freak (and piss off?) the people who were reading this. I thought it would be fun… for me at least. Glad your hysterical side has a short attention span!

Thanks for reading this and for reviewing, I've really enjoyed hearing from you!

EnyoGraeae: (Pats on the back) See? Everything turned out alright. Don't we all wish we could comfort Reaper! But he did catch a break! I put the claws in stomach in his nightmare because it's sort of like him working through his emotional issues. I hoped you like this story and thanks for reviewing, I loved hearing from you!

Lamminator: Yeah, they had to recognize each other first or there wouldn't have been any emotions. I hope you've enjoyed reading this story; I've loved hearing from you!

To Arami, please don't use my other stories to beg for an update on the others. But I will tell you that I am having trouble writing that story and am not sure if I will be updating it any time soon. You will just have to stay patient, I am sorry.

Well, there's the end. I would like to take the time to thank everyone who read this story, even those who didn't review. I had fun writing this, and I hope you had fun reading this! Thank you all!

Until we meet again, I remain faithfully yours

Amanda.


End file.
